Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients except raisins in a mixing bowl. Spread mixture on a cookie sheet. Bake mixture for 15 min. stirring once in the middle of cooking. Remove granola from oven, stir. Let cool for a few min. Add raisins and stir to combine. When cooled moved to an airtight container.

I got the original recipe for this from theprudenthomemaker.com. I have changed it some to suit our tastes.

I got this original recipe from http://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/2009/08/easy-homemade-berry-yogurt.html#respond. I have altered it some to suit our tastes.

Homemade Flavored Yogurt ( leave the jelly out if you want plain yogurt)

4 3/4 cups milk at room temperature ( do not use fat free milk, it does not work well)

8 ounces of high quality plain yogurt (yes this is more than most recipes, but it works)

10 tablespoons of powdered milk

For flavored yogurt use:

1/4 cup of jelly or jam or 1/2 cup pureed sweetened fruit (I have frozen fruit already sweetened that we picked this summer)

Milk must be at room temperature! I measure it out and place it in a bowl that is covered for a few hours or heat milk to 180 degrees then cool to between 100 and 110 degrees. Once the milk is at room temperature mix together the remaining ingredients(these need to be room temperature as well) , including the jelly or pureed fruit . I find this mixes together best in a blender. I let mine sit for a while after blending as I did not want frothy yogurt. But if you are just making plain yogurt you can mix together with a whisk. I then fill my yogurt cups and heat for 12 hours. Yogurt makers are different. Adjust time according to your maker. Remove jars from yogurt maker, refrigerate, and enjoy.

I thought I would show you all Mama Goose on her nest. She is nesting on the little island on our pond. Somewhere close to her but invisible to us is Mama Duck. From what we can figure, they both starting setting at about the same time. We look forward to seeing babies soon.

The girls and I had a fun day yesterday. Julie does have to start wearing glasses though. The eye doctor called them part time glasses. He said for her to wear them when she was doing school, reading, doing computer work, etc. To which I said well, that’s pretty much full time glasses. But anyway, she was just glad they didn’t put drops in her eyes. She was SO dreading that. After the eye appointment we went to Goodwill, Wal-Mart, Barnes and Noble, Home Depot and Lowes. We were looking for a certain color of stain for outside but we couldn’t find the color we have always used. We then ate lunch at Little Caesar’s (the girls favorite eat out place). After that, we came towards home-stopped and spent some much needed time at the Horn’s. It had been so long since we had been able to get together. We had a great visit but time just went by too quickly. It seemed like we had been there no time and it was time to go. She made me a nice hot biscuit so I could sample her dandelion syrup. It was really good. You can read about it here on her new blog http://oneandahalfacrehomestead.wordpress.com/2012/04/01/dandelion-syrup-tastes-like-honey/ My dandelion jelly did not set up. I used powdered pection that I had on hand instead of the liquid (Sorry, Mrs. Faye, I will listen to you next time) so my jelly will now be called syrup. I used some this morning to sweeten coffee and it was very good.

We had rain early this morning. Everything is very wet and the temperature is chilly-low 40’s. I think we will probably get a frost tonight and maybe tomorrow night. I am hoping it doesn’t damage any of our fruit. When I walked out toward the pond to get the picture of Mama Goose, I turned back toward the house and took this picture of our hens.

Today has been a beautiful day here in Floyd. Plenty of sunshine with a good breeze. Perfect for drying clothes on the line. I love to see clothes flapping in the wind. This means they will dry quickly and will be so soft.

I tried a new homemade coffee creamer today. It is Almond Coffee Creamer. I changed the recipe some to suit our tastes. 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 3/4 cup non-dairy coffee creamer, 3/4 cup powdered milk, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp almond extract. Put all ingredients into blender and blend well. I must admit I had some trouble getting it to blend together but I just keep on trying. I like almond extract in other things so I thought it would be worth trying. I do like it and think it would definitely be worth making again. I was wondering if I could use this same recipe with different extracts, peppermint for example. I’m not sure how the cinnamon would go with the peppermint though.